Stanford University Starts a Blockchain Research Center With Vitalik Buterin One of the Sponsors

Stanford has created the Center for Blockchain Research, supported in part by the Ethereum Foundation, Stanford Engineering’s website posted yesterday, June 20th, CoinDesk reports .

The university reportedly is establishing the center in order to examine how blockchain technology can transform traditional business interactions, according to their official announcement.

The initiative, which was started by a few professors and computer scientists at Stanford, will educate their students in blockchain technology. The founders believe that blockchains will become increasingly critical to doing business globally; and Stanford should be among the educational pioneers in this direction.

The preliminary five-year research program will be led by professors of computer science, Dan Boneh and David Mazières, and will include other Stanford professors of engineering, particle physics, and law. Beyond blockchain research, the initiative will also develop courses on blockchain implementation, from its potential role in the financial sector to data management in other spheres.

Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Vitalik Buterin tweeted about his, and evidently his foundation’s support for the blockchain initiative.

Designing a Blockchain Curriculum for Both Students and Professionals

The Centre will meet a dual function: education and research. The announcement revealed that the center will focus on designing a blockchain curriculum for both students and working professionals. This should not come as a surprise, given reports that such classes have seen major interest at some U.S. universities.

Cryptography and computer security expert Boneh said that blockchains will become increasingly critical to doing business globally. The professor in Stanford’s School of Engineering, said of the center’s launch:

Blockchains will become increasingly critical to doing business globally. Stanford should be at the forefront of efforts to improve, apply and understand the many ripple effects of this technology.

The center will aim to bring university scientists and industry leaders together to develop best practices for this burgeoning and potentially transformative field.

The release said that businesses nowadays seek to implement blockchain to streamline aspects of their activity: managing the transfer of goods and supplies, real estate transactions (e.g. rental) and the transfer of deeds (e.g. buying a property). It can even help upgrade the voting system in democratic states. Altogether, blockchain can advance numerous aspects of life as we know it – Stanford knows this, and plans to be among the first world-renowned subscribers.

Blockchain education has been offered in other universities worldwide, with an Australian research university launching a blockchain course in February and Ripple (XRP) donating $50 million at the beginning of June to seventeen universities globally, to support blockchain education programs.